


The First Plans

by puff22_2001



Series: BSSM: University [2]
Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Female Friendship, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:46:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24691753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/puff22_2001/pseuds/puff22_2001
Summary: When Makoto is about to lose her home, Rei steps in. Her offer will change the course of their lives.
Relationships: Hino Rei & Kino Makoto
Series: BSSM: University [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1781515
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	The First Plans

**Author's Note:**

> Although this fanfiction is officially part of my BSSM: University universe (wherein Mako and Rei are dating), at this point they're just best friends. This story can be read as a standalone apart from the series, but future fanfictions do reference events in earlier stories.

Rei handed a cup of tea to Makoto and sat down across from her at the small table. The tall girl looked worn, though she tried to plaster a smile to her face as they sat in a moment of companionable silence.

“So, what happened?” Rei asked in a neutral tone. Even at just fourteen, Rei was already an expert at listening to those in need. Living at the shrine with her Grandpa might not have taught her patience for fools, but his sincere efforts had at least molded Rei into someone who wouldn’t turn away pain.

Especially if the one in trouble was her oldest friend. “My landlord is raising my rent in a few months.” Makoto said as she cradled her tea. Her grass-green eyes drooped in worry, and Rei reached across the wood to pat her hand.

“Have you talked to your guardians?”

“My uncle said that they can’t afford to send me more money. I don’t get an increase in my inheritance payments until my next birthday.”

“Your aunt and uncle are terrible.” Rei said before taking a sip of her tea. Makoto didn’t argue, though Rei could see that she dearly wished that she could.

“I don’t know what to do. No one will hire me because I’m too young, and I can’t miss school anyway. Ami would kill me.”

“How is school?” Makoto’s face said more than the girl at first. Young as she was, Makoto was already a warrior and protected anyone in need. It wasn’t fair how life had abused her.

“Actually, I got kicked out again.” Makoto looked up at Rei with apprehension, though Rei herself didn’t seem to notice as she took in the new information. Then her violet eyes widened in eagerness.

“No, this is great!”

“Wait, what?” Makoto stared at her friend. “You get mad at me when I get thrown out for fighting.”

“No, I get mad when you get _caught_. You can defend people and destroy bullies without your teachers finding out.”

Makoto smiled ruefully and ran a finger over her cup’s edge. “Not everyone can be masters at sneak like you and Minako. I never think to go get a teacher. I just get mad and start swinging.”

“Well, you won’t have to worry about it any more. You’re going to have me around to mentor you.”

“What do you mean?”

“You can move in with me! You can go to T.A.!”

Makoto looked skeptical as she finally took a swig of her tea. Her smile turned sad and wistful for dreams that never seemed to come true. Rei hated that look of defeat on her Makoto’s face.

“I can’t afford T.A., Rei.”

“Who said _you’d_ pay? I’ll make my father cover the tuition.” Rei smiled widely and bent down to pull a notebook and a pencil from her bag. She began writing in perfect script as Makoto shook her head.

“Even if I’d let you do that for me, my grades aren’t nearly good enough.”

“OK, look.” Rei said, stabbing the air with her pencil. “I hate my father. You know that. So let me stick it to him by sending one of his ‘underprivileged waifs’ that he honestly hates to school.”

Makoto laughed at that. Rei had regaled them all for years on how her senator father was the epitome of hypocrisy.

Rei smiled back, pleased to lessen Makoto’s worries. “Besides, your grades aren’t _that_ bad. With a good school and less distractions like financial worries, you’d probably be doing a lot better. Maybe almost as good as me.”

Makoto’s smile turned sly. “Oh, really? That’s a pretty high pedestal to reach.”

“I said _me_ , not _Ami_.” Rei said as she resumed writing. She was already starting her letters to get Makoto enrolled. “And if I’m there with you, I can keep you from fighting. The administration loves me and I can get anyone I want disciplined.”

“Do I want to know how you have the power?” Makoto asked, though she well knew how. Rei was a burning flame, but she could wield her power for good. Even if she could be a jerk when she did. Sometimes.

“I’m a good student and I’m in every activity, basically. Besides, I’m one of their wealthiest students through my father.” Rei shrugged in dismissal, her confidence so ingrained as to be of no real importance. “About my only flaw, as far as the school’s concerned, is that I won’t convert.”

Makoto laughed again and drank more tea, mulling over the proposal in front of her.

Living with Rei--would that be much different from now? When she spent nearly all of her free time with her and the other girls anyway? When her apartment was merely a stopping point, dark and empty? Makoto had tried to make it on her own since her parents had died (two short, short years ago) but their ghosts haunted her steps.

Makoto considered. To move out of the apartment her aunt had chosen for her without her input. To move away from the neighborhood where she was feared and pitied in turn. To no longer rely on relatives who wanted nothing to do with their dead sister’s problem child.

To live with Rei, her oldest friend, in the quiet temple. To attend the same school and actually succeed. To belong again, in a way she hadn’t since that plane crash had claimed her parents.

“Look,” Rei said kindly, breaking Makoto’s inner turmoil. “Let me talk like Ami.”

“You can barely afford your place now. Your rent is about to go up, which means you'll have to find an even crappier apartment even farther into the city. Or move in with your relatives, who suck, and not in the good way.”

“Minako has tainted you.”

Rei snorted, “You’re running out of schools to attend. Your grades keep getting worse because you can’t focus because you’re always worried about money and other people.”

Rei dropped her pencil on the table and gently took Makoto’s hand from her cup. She held it tight. “Move in with us. Go to T.A. with me. You deserve to make them proud and _you can_.”

Makoto’s eyes filled with tears, though they didn’t fall. She held on to Rei’s hand, Rei her torch in a dark cave of sorrow.

“If, If I do, you _have_ to let me repay you my own way.” Rei’s laugh was bright and she took a drink of her tea in her free hand, still holding on to the tall girl across from her.

“Of course you’ll work! Grandpa’s no help and _you_ actually do stuff when you come over.” Rei’s faced soured. “Unlike Minako and Usagi.”

“They do help sometimes.” Makoto said without conviction, though her smile remained.

“ _If_ I bribe them, and then only if I don’t give them their reward right away.”

“Speaking of the other girls, Usagi will flip when she hears.” Makoto said as a segue into more pleasant--and less emotional--topics. Rei’s smiled returned, though it was mischievous.

“She’s going to go nuts. She’s wanted to attend T.A. for _years_.”

“Maybe this will inspire her.”

“Maybe, though I doubt it. Either way, at least I can get _one_ of you on track.” Rei sighed so dramatically that Makoto laughed completely for the first time that afternoon. Her tears finally fell, though they sparkled on her cheeks as she giggled.

When she had stopped laughing, her smile was loving and soft. “Thank you, Rei. So much.”

Rei squeezed the larger hand in her own and returned the favor. Clinking their cups together with a gentle tink, Rei replied.

“Always. Now, how do you feel about nuns . . . “


End file.
